Details of Helicopter Tjungarrayi

About

Medium
Professional acrylic on canvas/linen

Themes
Pippar Country: his mother's country
Nynmi country: his father's country
Tingari
Soak waters

Biography
Helicopter is well-recognised as one of Warlayirti Artists' leading painters and is a great ambassador for the Art Centre. Born at Nynmi, west of Kiwirrkurra, Helicopter learnt from a young age the location of water sources and how to hunt for bush food. When he was a young boy, he became very sick and was brought to the old Balgo mission in a helicopter that had been doing mining exploration work in the area. This was the first helicopter many of the people had seen and it is how he got his name. Helicopter is a Maparn (traditional healer) and is an active Law man.

Helicopter worked at the mission in Balgo, drilling for water, cutting timber for fencing, fixing the windmill and travelled widely during these days to pick up supplies from the Kimberley ports. It was also at Balgo mission that Helicopter met and married Napanangka Yukenbarri. Together they had six children and raisesd another two of Napanangka's children from her first husband. They were together until Napanangka died in 2003.

In the early 1990s Helicopter painted with Napanangka, not seeking any acknowledgement. Since 1994, Helicopter has been painting in his own distinctive linear style that emanates from the central feature of a soakwater. He paints the country where he was born: his father's and grandfather's country in the Great Sandy Desert/Gibson Desert area. Helicopter has travelled interstate and overseas for exhibitions of his painting. In 1999 and 2003 Helicopter, together with Napanangka Yukenbarri, had solo exhibitions.

Solo Exhibitions
2009 Wangkartu Dreaming, Whitford Fine Art, London
2004 HelicopterTjaungurrayi, Alcaston Gallery @ Depot Gallery, Sydney.
2003 Always Together Painting, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
1999 Tjurrnu: Living Water, Alcaston Gallery , Melbourne, Vic

Group Exhibitions
2009 Lamparrta Tjanu Nyarni , Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
2008 Balgo 2008, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
2008 Men's Exhibition, Wooloongabba, Art Gallery, Brisbane
2008 Mixed Show, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi , Melbourne
2007 Balgo Survey , Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
2007 New Balgo Prints & Glass, Northern Editions, Darwin
2007 Best of the Best, Framed Gallery, Darwin
2007 Valid Editions - They might be Giants, A La Trobe University Art Museum, Bundoora Homestead Art Centre
2007 My country:Abstract interpretations of Australian Landscape, LaTrobe University travelling exhibition.
Ateneo Art Gallery,Ateneo de Manila University, Philipines
2007 Survey, They Might be Giants, Wooloongabba Art gallery , Brisbane
2006 Helicopter Tjungurrayi, Christine Yukenbarri, Imelda (guguman) Yukenbarri, Carmel Yukenbarri, Alcaston Gallery,
Melbourne
2005 Glass from the Sand Country, Alcaston Gallery , Melbourne
2006 Survey , ShortstGallery , Broome , WA
2004 Balgo a go go , Grant Pirrie, Sydney
2003 Eight by Three, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, Vic
2003 Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for Arts, Alice Springs, NT
2003 Purtatjanirri Kamu Warrmala, Framed Gallery, Darwin, NT
2003 Balgo Brilliance, Art Mob, Hobart, Tas
2003 Palya Minyirri, Thornquest Gallery, Gold Coast, QLD
2002 Balgo Hills, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Vic
2002 19th NATSIAA, Museum and Art Gallery of NT, Darwin, NT
2002 Balgo Hills Artists 2002, Art Mob, Aboriginal Fine Art, Tas
2002 Art from Balgo, Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, NT
2002 Kutjungka, Passing it On: Works from Balgo Hills, Coomalie Cultural Centre, Batchelor, WA
2002 Big Colour My Country, Thornquest Gallery, Gold Coast, QLD
2002 Balgo Hills: an artist's survey, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2001 Short on Size, Short st. Gallery, Broome, WA
2001 Balgo Men, Framed Gallery, Darwin, NT
2001 All About Art, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
2001 Kutjungka, Bett Gallery, Hobart, Tas
2001 Balgo Works, Staedtische Gallery, Wolsfburg, Germany
2001 New paintings from Balgo, Cutliffe Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2001 Recent Works by Artists from Balgo Hills, Ochre Gallery, Collingwood, Vic
2001 Balgo Artists Return to Country, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
2001 Spirituality and Australian Aboriginal Art, Alcaston Gallery, Madrid, Spain
2001 Yvonnou Balgo Exhibition, AMG Gallery, Paris, France
2001 Past Modern: an exhibition of Kimberley Landscapes, Short st. Gallery @ Australia Square,
Sydney, NSW
2000 The Westside: Images in Ochre and Colour, Coo-ee II Exhibiting Gallery, Yuwayi Art
Precinct, World Square, Sydney, NSW
2000 Olympic Exhibition, Coo-ee Exhibiting Gallery, Yuwayi Art Precinct, World Square, Sydney
2000 Past, Present and Future, Gallery East, Sydney, NSW
2000 Balgo Hills, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne, Vic
2000 Marking the Paper: limited edition prints on paper, DesArt, Sydney, NSW
2000 Melbourne Artfair 2000, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne, Vic
2000 Waltja-Family, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
2000 Hot Press: Recent Prints from Central Austalia and the Kimberley, Beaver Galleries,
Canberra, ACT
2000 Peintures des Aborigenes d'Australie, Palais des Congres et des Expositions, Paris, France
2000 Balgo Art, Gondwana Gallery, Alice Springs, NT
2000 Balgo Hills Aboriginal Paintings, Bett Gallery, Hobart, Tas
1999 Aboriginal Art, IHK, Wurzburg, Germany
1999 Dreaming in Colour: Australian Aboriginal Art from Balgo, University of Virginia, USA
1999 16th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, Museum and Art Gallery of
the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
1999 East Kimberley Art Awards, Kununurra Arts Council, Kununurra, WA
1999 Desert Mob '99, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs, NT
1999 30th Alice Prize, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs, NT
1999 Mularrpa (True) Balgo, Framed, the Gallery, Darwin, NT
1999 Miliynyin, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
1999 Miliynyin, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
1998 Culture Store, Art Gallery, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
1998 Ngurrara: My Own Country, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
1998 Dreamings, Spazio Pitti Arte, Florence, Italy
1998 Balgo Men, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
1998 Hilton Hotel Art Gallery, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
1998 Dreamings, Vlaams-Europeesch Conferentiecentrum, Brussels, Belgium
1997 Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, NT
1997 New Paintings from Balgo Artists, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
1997 Big Balgos: Recent Paintings by Warlayirti Artists, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW
1997 Balgo Paintings, Seywald Gallery, Salzburg, Austria
1997 Dreamings, Arnhem, The Netherlands
1997 Innenseite: Projektgruppe Stoffwechsel, Kassel & Gottingen, Germany
1997 Desert Country, Matso's, Broome, WA
1996 Balgo Hills: Art of the Place, Derek Simpkins Gallery of Tribal Art, Vancouver, BC, Canada
1995 Two Men Dreaming: New Art from Balgo Hills, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney

Collections
National Gallery of Australia
Art Gallery of New South Wales
National Gallery of Victoria
Kluge Ruhe Collection, USA
Gantner Myer Collection
Laverty Collection
Edith Cowan University
Harland Collection
Revue du Louvres, Paris
Ken Thompson and Pierre Marecaux Collection

Awards
1999 Special Commendation, East Kimberley Art Awards, Kununurra Arts Council, Kununurra

Artworks of Helicopter Tjungarrayi

This artist currently has no artworks for sale, please view some recent sold works below.

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